Grand union

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Track arrangement of a street railway Grand Union

Template:Routemap A grand union is a rail track junction where two double-track railway or tramway lines cross at grade, often in a street intersection or crossroads. A total of sixteen railroad switches (sets of points) allow streetcars (or in rarer installations, trains) coming from any direction to take any of the three other directions. The same effect may be achieved with two adjacent wyes if the location allows for space.

Complexity

These types of complex junction are expensive to build and expensive to maintain. Special parts, sometimes made of manganese steel, are needed for each location where one rail crossed another (a "frog"); these parts often need to be custom-made and fitted for each single location, depending on the specific angle of crossing of the intersecting streets.

A full grand union junction consists of 88 frogs (where one rail crosses another rail), and 32 switchpoints (point blades) if single-point switches are not used. A tram or train crossing the junction will encounter four or twenty frogs within the space of crossing the junction.

For all of the possible tracks of a grand union to be used during normal operation, at least six different tram routes have to cross the union. In an intersection with lines oriented towards cardinal directions, these could be: north-south, north-east, north-west, south-east, south-west, and east–west.

Three-quarter, half and butterfly unions

Three-quarter unions are similar to grand unions in that they are also rail track junctions where two double-track railway lines cross at grade, often in a street intersection or crossroads; the primary difference being that one corner of the crossing does not have curved junction tracks, with the union having a total of 12 railroad switches (sets of points).

Half unions are similar, but have curved junction tracks on only two adjoining corners of the intersection, with a total of eight switches.

Butterfly unions share the total of eight switches, but the curved junction tracks are on opposing corners.

Examples

Europe

Austria

  • Vienna has a three-quarter union at Quellenplatz, 48°10′32.3″N 16°22′24.7″E

Belgium

  • Brussels has a grand union at carrefour Buyl – Général Jacques, 50°49′05.9″N 4°22′45.8″E

Croatia

  • Zagreb has a grand union at the intersection of Savska and Vodnikova Street, 45.80545°N 15.96627°E, and a three-quarter union at the intersection of Vukovarska and Držićeva Avenue, 45.80113°N 15.999°E.

Czech Republic

  • Brno, has a three-quarter union located at 49°12′16.24″N 16°37′25.54″E.<ref>Template:Google Maps</ref>
  • Olomouc, has one grand union located at 49°35′44.42″N 17°14′50.27″E.<ref>Template:Google Maps</ref>
  • Prague, has three grand unions, first at 50°6′12.65″N, 14°28′23.89″E<ref>Template:Google Maps</ref> the second at 50°5′55.94″N, 14°25′59.76″E.<ref>Template:Google Maps</ref> and the third at 50°4′23.19″N 14°24′50.30″E, this Grand Union was rebuilt in 2003 and has curved trackwork as the streets are not aligned at the river crossing.

Estonia

  • Tallinn has a butterfly union at the intersection of Narva maantee, Hobujaama and A. Laikmaa streets at 59°26′14.07″ N 24°45′26.21″ E. The new crossing line started service in 2024 and connects the city harbor to the rest of the system.

Finland

  • Helsinki has a three-quarter union at the intersection of Simonkatu and Mannerheimintie, 60.1699°N 24.9385°E, and a butterfly union at the intersection of Runeberginkatu and Mannerheimintie, 60.1817°N 24.9273°E. These are probably the northernmost unions in the world.

Germany

Berliner Platz, in Kiel (1971).
  • Bremen has a full grand union under construction at the stop Bennigsenstraße at 53°4′13.8″N 8°51′22.2″E. It is used since August 2025, full usage will be from approximately 2028.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Cologne has one grand union at the stop Aachener Straße / Gürtel at 50°56′13.2″N 6°54′30.4″E, and one three-quarter union at Barbarossaplatz 50°55′42.9″N 6°56′33.7″E
  • Cottbus has one grand union at 51°45′39.86″N 14°19′51.39″E and a three-quarter union at 51°44′57.54″N 14°19′42.50″E.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Dresden has two grand unions at 51°3′49.47″N 13°44′48.95″E (Albertplatz) and 51°2′58.09″N 13°44′39.27″E (Hauptbahnhof), two three-quarter unions at Fetscherplatz and Könneritzstraße/Jahnstraße as well as a five-eighths union at 51°3′47.55″N 13°44′13.53″E
  • Duisburg has a butterfly union at Marxloh, Pollmann at 51°30′7.44″N 6°45′25.78″E
  • Kiel had a half union on Berliner Platz.
  • Erfurt has a butterfly union at 50.976099°N 11.034358°E, its modern city center: the Anger.
  • Karlsruhe's system has three grand unions located at Stop Mathystrasse (49°0′8.96″N 8°23′39.77″E),<ref>Template:Google Maps</ref> located at Entenfang (49°00′37.1″N 8°21′31.8″E).,<ref>Template:Google Maps</ref> and the third one established in 2018 at intersection Rüppurrer Str. and Baumeisterstraße.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Google Maps</ref> A fourth one is planned at the next intersection of Kriegsstraße and Baumeisterstraße.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Kassel's system has a single grand union located at 51°19′4.87″N 9°30′1.02″E and a three-quarter union at 51°18′43.02″N 9°29′29.64″E.<ref>Template:Google Maps</ref><ref>Template:Google Maps</ref>
  • Leipzig has a grand union at 51°20′39.35″N 12°22′15.99″E it is unique in interfacing with four tracks at Goerdelerring tram stop. There is a three-quarter union at 51°19′56.49″N 12°20′19.68″E, a half union at 51°20′31.31″N 12°21′31.15″E and butterfly unions at 51°19′12.95″N 12°19′48.80″E, 51°20′20.36″N 12°21′44.96″E and 51°21′44.93″N 12°21′55.79″.
  • Munich has one real grand union at Ostfriedhof since the last track alteration in 2015 at 48°07′8.6″N 11°35′1″E. A three-quarter union can be found on Leonrodplatz at 48°09′34.2″N 11°32′50.8″E. While not a traditional grand union, the Munich tram system has also a "grand circle" which has the same route function as a grand union and also provides a loop for all lines, it is located at Maxmonument in Maximilianstrasse, 48°8′15.27″N, 11°35′17.02″E.<ref>Template:Google Maps</ref>

Italy

  • Milan: the Milan tram network currently has two grand unions. The first is a non standard design with divided North South tracks around a monument located at piazza 24 Maggio,<ref>Template:Google Maps</ref> and the second located nearby at piazzale Porta Lodovica.<ref>Template:Google Maps</ref><ref group=note>In summer 2022 it is going to lose one of the diverging tracks. Works ongoing.</ref> There used to be another large one until the 1990s located at piazza della Repubblica,<ref>Template:Google Maps</ref> but it has since reduced to a wye junction still keeping the layout of diverging routes by the removal of the straight route to via Vittor Pisani.
  • Rome: This network does not have a Grand Union but a Grand Circle, located at the Porta Maggiore, east of Roma Termini railway station.

Netherlands

Poland

There is a three-quarter union at 52°15′17.24″N 20°58′57.11″E,<ref>https://maps.google.com/maps?q=52%C2%B015%2717.24%22N+20%C2%B058%2757.11%22E&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=52.254707,20.982457&spn=0.000882,0.002411&sll=48.137884,11.588259&sspn=0.000961,0.002411&t=k&z=19 Google Maps: Rondo Zgrupowania AK "Radosław", Warszawa, Poland</ref> and 52°26'35.68"N 21°02'07.88"E.

Russia

Slovakia

  • Košice, had one grand union at 48°42′18″N 21°14′35″E, in 2018 that was replaced with a Grand Circle, which can be seen on Google Earth.

Switzerland

United Kingdom

Americas

Canada

Template:Routemap

  • Toronto: The most extensive street railway system in the Americas is the Toronto streetcar system of the Toronto Transit Commission in southern Ontario, which has many four-way streetcar intersections, including the only extant grand unions remaining in the Western Hemisphere. The system includes three grand unions, one seven-eighths union (one curve short of a grand union), four three-quarter unions (missing 2 curves at a single corner), three more unions with 6 curves and many unions in various configurations with less than 6 curves. The "traditional" grand unions are located at Bathurst and King (43°38′38.14″N 79°24′9.50″W); Spadina and King (43°38′43.73″N 79°23′42.09″W) and Spadina and Queen (43°38′55.43″N 79°23′46.91″W).<ref>Template:Cite map</ref> King and Dufferin (43°38′20.15″N 79°25′38.45″W) is a "seven-eighths union": it is missing the curve from southbound to westbound.<ref name="TT-Map-tracks">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Brantford, Ontario The Brantford Municipal Railway installed a UK-made grand union at Colborne and Market Streets circa 1910. It remained in service until the end of streetcar service in the city on 31 January 1940.<ref>"Traction on the Grand", John Mills, Railfare Publishing, 1977.</ref> It was taken up for scrap in 1940.<ref>Page 74, Canadian Rail Passenger Review Number 3, 2000, author Douglas NW Smith</ref>

United States

Galleries

Oceania

See also

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Notes

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References

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Template:Railway track layouts

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